My Year as The Fool Reversed

Reflecting on 2023 with the Wild Unknown tarot deck

For the past few years I’ve done a Year Ahead Spread on New Year’s Eve using my Wild Unknown tarot deck. It’s a thirteen card spread that is typically done on New Year’s Eve, or on birthdays, to give some insight into the year to come. The first called pulled is for January, the second February, and so on until the thirteenth card is pulled signifying the theme of the year. For 2023, I pulled The Fool Reversed.

The Fool is the only unnumbered card in the Major Arcana and is often seen as “main character of the Major Arcana and makes his journey through each of the cards, meeting new teachers and learning new life lessons along the way,” (Biddy Tarot). Journeys are a big theme with The Fool, the Wild Unknow tarot deck uses the words “spontaneity, innocence” when describing the card with an emphasis on “beginnings” and the possibility of falling, or failing. But of course, those are all words and interpretations for The Fool Upright, not Reversed.

The words and themes associated with The Fool Reversed are “holding back, recklessness, risk-taking” (Biddy Tarot) as well as “inconsideration, taking advantage of” (Labrinthos), and if that wasn’t enough “carelessness, negligence, stupidity, distraction, apathy, irrationality, lack of fun, hope or faith” (The Tarot Guide).

So, you know, lots of fun stuff. But I don’t look at Tarot as a way of predicting the future, I’ve always used it as a mirror, reflecting back things I need to see about myself that I may be avoiding.

After I’ve done my Year Ahead Spread, I print out smaller versions of the cards I’ve pulled and put them in-between each month of my planner as something to look at and reflect on when each month starts. It’s something that’s easier said than done, I’m usually good at reminding myself of my pulls in the first few months of the year before forgetting. But the Overall Theme is always put in the beginning of the planner, as well as some notes on the card and what I think I need to focus on.

There were some points in my notes that stuck out at my more than others, and I want to reflect on some of those ones:

Live in the moment responsibly

I have a lot of trouble living in the moment. Sometimes I get too stuck in the past or caught up in an idealized future. I sort of just slog through the present as a fuzzy-eyed thing. But I’ve been trying to stop my mind from wandering, have been trying to stay in the present more in my daily life and find the joy in that instead of in memories of the past or a fiction of the future. And doing it responsibly, of course. Sometimes I feel behind people with how my life has gone, and sometimes when you feel left behind you try to catch up in irresponsible ways. Luckily I’m too anxious to do anything super irresponsible, but that doesn’t mean the thought doesn’t exist and need to be killed sometimes.

Be more aware and not taken advantage of

I think this has been a big one for me this year. This year I’ve realized that I have a lot of people pleasing tendencies that result in me not respecting my own boundaries. For at least half of the year I’ve been trying to do that more, to realize the things I want to do and to not just say yes to doing something because I’m afraid of disappointing or upsetting someone else. To not say yes and do something I don’t want to do because I think it’s what’s expected of me. There’s still a long journey ahead when it comes to setting boundaries, but it’s one I’m excited to continue exploring.

Don’t fear the unknown

HA! (I didn’t work on this)

Bring more play into daily life

I think this is something I need to work on more. I tend to pile a lot of things into my days: after work I come home and write, I read to achieve my Goodreads goal (I read 83/75 books this year!), and then tend to find myself on a TikTok wormhole. At least in the last few months I’ve been trying to see friends more as a way to add play into my life, but I’d also like to try playing some of the videogames I have. Anything to get me off of TikTok.

What I enjoy most about the Year Ahead Spread is that it gives me a chance to reflect on myself. Unlike resolutions (which I still list out for myself), these are more inner goals I can work on, a chance to look inward and not only learn more about myself but try to improve parts of myself that can reflect back into my life.

I don’t know if I learned as much as I should have with The Fool Reversed, but the card definitely allowed me to focus on some parts of myself that I was ignoring. There’s a long way to go, there always is. Even 365 days isn’t long enough for all the changes and work a person does on themselves. But it’s something, and I’m glad for what I’ve learned and whatever my 2024 pull has in store for me!

What Else I’ve Been Doing:

Reading: Finished reading My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. Currently reading Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones.

Listening To: Indie Christmas

Watching: Saltburn (SO GOOD), Bottoms (ALSO GOOD), Season Two of What We Do In the Shadows and One Pace

Bibliography:

Brigit. “Fool Tarot Card Meanings.” Biddy Tarot, 14 July 2023, biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/fool/.

Brigit. “Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings.” Biddy Tarot, 17 Apr. 2023, biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/.

Gong, Tina. “The Fool Meaning - Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings.” Labyrinthos, 21 Nov. 2022, labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list/the-fool-meaning-major-arcana-tarot-card-meanings.

Krans, Kim. The Wild Unknown Tarot. HarperCollins, 2016.

Lisa. “The Fool Tarot Card Meaning.” The Tarot Guide, The Tarot Guide, 15 Oct. 2023, www.thetarotguide.com/the-fool/.